Honey

[For want of a better word]

I can take the piss with the best of you lot, however that advice about adding H2o was not funny and some folk may try it and ruin there hard earned first crop.

I do not think the OP is that daft... irony seems to be lost on some the nearer one gets to that icy North Sea!

However speaking to one of the South West's leading honey experts ( He left this forum a couple of years back as got tired with all the nasty posts)..

He suggests that perhaps the particulates are minute crystals of setting honey that is very high in sucrose, held in a thixiotrophic substrate.... best possible solution would be to heat to 52 degrees C and allowing to cool to 24.5 degrees C and add 15 to 20 % of a good seeded soft set honey mix slowly, jar, and cool to 11 degrees C to set.
He was a food technologist for some years at Carsons Glucose in Brixton London... before retiring to our village about 30 years ago... has only 2 colonies of bees now.

Trust that info was of some help?

Yeghes da

 

[pargyle]

I reckon the initial straining you gave was sufficient - the cloudiness you're sweeing has nothing to do with impurities and won't improve much with further straining.
Next year, pass it through the double strainer straight from the extractor into the settling tank - give it a good few days to settle, then do the cling film trick and job's done.

JBM is bang on - that's what I do and it is by far is the best way - I tell my customers that it's not fine filtered as I like to keep all the goodness in there and that they won't buy better tasting honey in a supermarket - Don't think I've ever had anyone disagree ...


It will almost certainly crystallise in the jars as well but you will find that some customers (or those you will have to donate your hard won honey to ... it's amazing how cheeky people (friends and family) can be when they find you have some honey ! - I got pretty shirty when a colleague of mine asked if they could have a jar of honey for cooking as they "didn't want to'buy some to cook with !" Told him exactly what I thought about that... ) anyway, I digress ... actually like a natural set honey - much easier to keep on the toast I'm told.

If it does crystallize then a night in the airing cupboard or in a box next to the woodburner will turn it back to liquid gold ...

 

[peacoops]

All info gratefully received, I don't think I'll do the heating mixing, as currently a) I'm too lazy/busy
B) tastes great anyway
C) don't really want to add someone else's honey to something that is actually all my own (well mine and his, but you know the adage 'what's his is mine and what's mine is mine')

Thank you all

 

[peacoops]

So we have ended up with 20 jars from the two supers, in total, is that normalish?
Sorry picture is sideways but I don't care it's our honey

 

[masterBK]

Good job you don't intend selling or showing those jars as they look underweight with daylight between lid and honey!

 

[Erichalfbee]

So we have ended up with 20 jars from the two supers, in total, is that normalish?
Sorry picture is sideways but I don't care it's our honey

You can get 30 odd lbs from one super. That's a good year mind.
Don't worry about the gap. If I filled my jars without a gap my 12oz jars would be a good one/two ounces over. You have to fill to the top for showing. Well done it looks lovely

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Don't worry about the gap. If I filled my jars without a gap my 12oz jars would be a good one/two ounces over. You have to fill to the top for showing.

That is all because of the fact there are small differences in various jar batches.
Filling them so there is no gap between lid and honey is to ensure they are over weight thus no need for the judge to check

 

[Erichalfbee]

That is all because of the fact there are small differences in various jar batches.
Filling them so there is no gap between lid and honey is to ensure they are over weight thus no need for the judge to check

Yes indeed. Not for retail though? Do you eliminate daylight in your jars as MBK suggests you must?
I fill my jars on scales. Never any doubt

 

[Millet]

So we have ended up with 20 jars from the two supers, in total, is that normalish?
Sorry picture is sideways but I don't care it's our honey

There you go is that better.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

There you go is that better.

As MBK said in post #4 - honey has started to crystalise - leave it a bit longer and you'll have some really nice 'naturally granulated' honey. Very popular around here.

 

[Millet]

My spring honey granulated and set like bell metal, i warmed it up and listened to Redwoods advice which was put some of it in the food blender to make all the crystals smaller, i did that and then added some of the food blended honey to the jars of warmed crystallized honey and give it a good stir in, it is still spreadable now and not as gritty.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Yes indeed. Not for retail though? Do you eliminate daylight in your jars as MBK suggests you must?
I fill my jars on scales. Never any doubt

I fill mine up to a level which ensures they are a tad over weight - coincidentally it's somewhere near no daylight showing.
No way am I going to individually weigh every jar - one little slip or inaccuracy in your scales and they end up under weight.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Mine sit on scales as I fill them. I don't fill anywhere near the number you do though .............alas

 

[Erichalfbee]

My spring honey granulated and set like bell metal, i warmed it up and listened to Redwoods advice which was put some of it in the food blender to make all the crystals smaller, i did that and then added some of the food blended honey to the jars of warmed crystallized honey and give it a good stir in, it is still spreadable now and not as gritty.

Yes my spring honey looked as if it was going the same way. Thank heavens it was still in the bucket. Just melted it and soft set it. Lot of dandelion in it and it ponged a bit. Smells much nicer now

 

[peacoops]

Thank you Millet photo does look better up the right way.

MBK I will take on board your comments regarding weight/filling jars, not ready for showing yet or selling, although giving away seems to be expected.

The honey isn't crunchy yet and still spreads on toast perfectly.

 

[BeeJayBee]

There's no real need to fill to the bottom of the thread except for showing, as long as it's the correct weight.

 

[Swarm]

There's no real need to fill to the bottom of the thread except for showing, as long as it's the correct weight.

It will depend on your jars, if I filled mine to the thread I'd be losing out in a big way.

 

[For want of a better word]

I fill mine up to a level which ensures they are a tad over weight - coincidentally it's somewhere near no daylight showing.
No way am I going to individually weigh every jar - one little slip or inaccuracy in your scales and they end up under weight.

Use the e letter... allows of inaccurate weighing +/- 4,5% and is legal!
Look it up http://www.food-info.net/uk/qa/qa-pr5.htm

Yeghes da

 

[REDWOOD]

I scale all my jars, you get the hang of when to shut the gate valve quite quickly to get it a couple of grams overweight, you have to alow for bubbles and if the air in them is dense a lot of them can weigh quite a bit

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

I scale all my jars, you get the hang of when to shut the gate valve quite quickly to get it a couple of grams overweight, you have to alow for bubbles and if the air in them is dense a lot of them can weigh quite a bit

Exactly as I do it.

It's just as easy to run it into jars on an electronic scale as it is onto any other surface. And that way I am sure the weight is adequate, and fair to customers and to me.

Dusty